Belts

[ibewiggin]

Ok so what would cause the belt to keep ripping. It ripped both belts. I found a little piece of the brad sticking out of the bottom of the sled. I pulled out the brad, and replaced the belts. Put the project back in and it ripped one of the belts again. Could it be that the bottom of my sled is too smooth? I am bafled. Please help.

[CarverJerry]

Where is it tearing? Keypad side, middle or far side? Could be it is not aligned right.

[bjbethke]

Ok so what would cause the belt to keep ripping. It ripped both belts. I found a little piece of the brad sticking out of the bottom of the sled. I pulled out the brad, and replaced the belts. Put the project back in and it ripped one of the belts again. Could it be that the bottom of my sled is too smooth? I am bafled. Please help.

Brads/nails work loose and lift the board off the tracking roller use tape if you have slippage. The sled bottom should be all wood, if you need fasteners than the heads of screws needs to be at least an 1/8th of an inch deep so they will not cut your belts. Ripping on the edge is caused by the belt rolling over and catching the guides. Also check your head pressure. I would use glue to hold the sled together.

[unitedcases]

As Al would say, "Put tape all over the bottom of it". All my sleds are made out of melamine and they are slick. Simply put tape all over the bottom and no slippage at all. And the tape lasts a whole lot longer than you would think.

[ibewiggin]

Thanks a million guys, I will try the tape. And I will also check head pressure.

[Digitalwoodshop]

As Al would say, "Put tape all over the bottom of it". All my sleds are made out of melamine and they are slick. Simply put tape all over the bottom and no slippage at all. And the tape lasts a whole lot longer than you would think.

Good Call... Thanks.... That would have been my first suggestion.

Second it head pressure.... The head pressure can be too tight and then pushes down so hard on the platens that the belts slide on that they can't hardly move. This is when something gives.... Usually it is the X Gear Box... But in your case it is the belts. So using a bathroom scale measure the pressure. Don't remember the number.... 90 pounds I think...someone will chime in with the number....


I do it by sound.... Because Humidity can cause the belts to stick to the platens, sometimes when I first start in the morning and I hear the board measurement motor struggling, I loosen the crank slightly and let it finish measuring. I then DO IT OVER under normal pressure letting the belts dry off and slide better. Remember wood sawdust pitch is similar to Rosin and can cause the belts to stick.

So I think it could also be a smooth bottom sled and a nail sticking out and a sliding sand paper belt acting like a box cutter. Masking tape will help that...

AL

[CarverJerry]

The most important area to tape is on the edge where the brass roller is (keypad side) to prevent the roller from skipping and causing the project not to track properly.

CJ

[ibewiggin]

Awesome, I loosened the head tension, made sure that all the brads were not exposed and I taped the bottom. The belts did not rip! But now I got a check tracking roller....grrrr. Thanks again guys.

[PCW]

Sounds like you don't have enough head pressure now. Try cranking the handle down a little more.

[ibewiggin]

It is carving again! Thanks for all the advise.

[ibewiggin]

Wow what is going on with my machine. I must have pissed it off. So after about five hours of carving, one of the two screws that stick out on the bits some how flew out of the bit and through the side of the chuck! Ruined the chuck and the carving. I can not believe this. Bad couple of days for my poor machine.

[Digitalwoodshop]

1-800-get-rock....

[CarverJerry]

I second that Al, can't beat the rock chuck.....

CJ

[unitedcases]

I will definitely second that motion. The rock pretty much rocks! Nuff Said!

[Digitalwoodshop]

You should also check head level too.... Install a wide board. Use the Z to touch the board left and right and use the Z Data measurements to see how level it is.

The 90 degree gears under the machine that transfer the hand crank to the far side are only held together by a screw in plastic. It can come loose and skip a tooth.... Every skipped tooth is a more un level head. That is what causes the gouges in the smooth rails, the tilted head. Dry smooth rails and sawdust in far side jacking gear make it harder to turn. Then the gears skip...

AL

[ibewiggin]

Well I will do that too. My machine is going to be down for a while until I can afford a rock chuck. I am unemployed and just bought $100 worth of stuff for it. Now it is down again. I was thinking about trying to trade my brand new bit set for a rock chuck. I have never used those bits but I know that as soon as I trade them I will need them. Just tired of my machine being down. You guys are all so helpfull and I appreciate it, I am still learning.